Subject: Black Swallowtail caterpillar
Location: ohio
September 16, 2015 5:10 pm
I looked this one up, to see if it was a monarch, and am 99% sure this is a black swallowtail caterpillar eating my carrots. The carrots are almost ready to harvest, so they’re welcome to the leaves, but where will they chrysalis/metamorph? I don’t want to take away their environment. We have flowers nearby, xenias, etc. that all the butterflies have been going nuts over, will they go there?
Signature: Amber
Dear Amber,
The Black Swallowtail Caterpillar is sometimes called a Carrot Worm or a Parsley Worm. It will likely try to find a protected location to metamorphose into a chrysalis as it will most likely pass the winter in the pupal form.
I live in central Minnesota and grow carrots every year.( I have lots of monarchs) I have never seen a Black Swallow tail butterfly or catrpillar before. My 6 year old daughter and I were looking at the carrots today when we spotted at least 8 Black Swallow tail caterpillars. Can the pupas survive our -20 degree temperatures?
If the caterpillar finds a sheltered location, it should be able to survive.
What do they look for when they are ready to pupate? I move monarch pupas all the time so we can watch them hatch in the house. I suppose I could do the same thing in my 30 degree garage.
What is the normal pupation time for this swallow tail.
The chrysalis of a Black Swallowtail, like other members of the genus, is supported by a silken girdle. Temperature and weather conditions are more important than actual time elapsed when it comes to insect metamorphosis.
I had a hard frost last night. Most of them have let go on the their head end. Will my 8 caterpillars survive this?
Difficult to say. This is late in the year for Black Swallowtail Caterpillars in the northern portion of the range.
They survived the frost! By Sunday temps will be near 80.
I’m going to put sticks in the carrot patch to give them a place to hang on.Then I can move them to a sheltered location
Sounds like a good plan.